Critical Reasoning

Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
Yorco and Zortech are two corporations that employ large numbers of full-time
workers who are paid by the hour. Publicly available records indicate that Yorco
employs roughly the same number of such hourly wage workers as Zortech does but
spends a far higher total sum per year on wages for such workers. Therefore, hourly
wages must be higher, on average, at Yorco than at Zortech, since _____.
A. Zortech spends a higher total sum per year than Yorco does to provide its
hourly wage workers with benefits other than wages
B. the work performed by hourly wage workers at Zortech does not require a
significantly higher level of skill than the work performed by hourly wage
workers at Yorco does
C. the proportion of all company employees who are hourly wage workers is
significantly greater at Yorco than it is at Zortech
D. overtime work, which is paid at a substantially higher rate than work done
during the regular work week, is rare at both Yorco and Zortech
E. the highest hourly wages paid at Yorco are higher than the highest hourly
wages paid at Zortech
[spoiler]Answer:C/D[/spoiler]

the author of the arguments concludes that the hourly wages at yorco are higher than that of zortech. In order to support this conclusion... we will have to prove that yorco has higher avg hourly pay than zortech.

Hence one way to increase the avg is by maximizing the hourly pay at one co.

IMO E

Should be D.
The argument states that the number of workers are roughly the same at 2 companies. So the proportion should not matter here.

gmatv09 wrote:the author of the arguments concludes that the hourly wages at yorco are higher than that of zortech. In order to support this conclusion... we will have to prove that yorco has higher avg hourly pay than zortech.

Hence one way to increase the avg is by maximizing the hourly pay at one co.

IMO E

The whole idea is about average salary not at all about the highest salaries...

what is OA?

gmatv09 wrote:what is OA?

What it should be?

@Maihuna,

IMO it should be D. Here we are giving a reason that " No other cause ensures the reason for higher total sum per year on wages".

Let us try to negate D.then our conclusion will fall apart.

The term "since" also looks for"external factor that is supposed to strengthen the issue.

Share your suggestions please...

gmatmachoman wrote:@Maihuna,

IMO it should be D. Here we are giving a reason that " No other cause ensures the reason for higher total sum per year on wages".

Let us try to negate D.then our conclusion will fall apart.

The term "since" also looks for"external factor that is supposed to strengthen the issue.

Share your suggestions please...

Hey, good reasoning gmatmachoman!

Testluv wrote:

gmatmachoman wrote:@Maihuna,

IMO it should be D. Here we are giving a reason that " No other cause ensures the reason for higher total sum per year on wages".

Let us try to negate D.then our conclusion will fall apart.

The term "since" also looks for"external factor that is supposed to strengthen the issue.

Share your suggestions please...

Hey, good reasoning gmatmachoman!

Thanks Testluv,As always credit goes to you, & I promise & owe that once I Beat the GMAT..a grand party for you in your place....

very nice reasoning gmatmachoman. Thanks for the explanation.

Regards,
Viju

IMO C

2 companies have same number of hourly wage salary workers but if ratios of number of these worker to total employees are different in the 2 companies, we can not have conclusion. negation of D show this

if we negate C, we can have that workers of both companies work overtime a lot. But ratios of number of hour working overtime and that of normal work is the same, conclusion is not weaken. C can not be correct

Testluv

pls, help

maihuna wrote:Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
Yorco and Zortech are two corporations that employ large numbers of full-time
workers who are paid by the hour. Publicly available records indicate that Yorco
employs roughly the same number of such hourly wage workers as Zortech does but
spends a far higher total sum per year on wages for such workers. Therefore, hourly
wages must be higher, on average, at Yorco than at Zortech, since _____.
A. Zortech spends a higher total sum per year than Yorco does to provide its
hourly wage workers with benefits other than wages
B. the work performed by hourly wage workers at Zortech does not require a
significantly higher level of skill than the work performed by hourly wage
workers at Yorco does
C. the proportion of all company employees who are hourly wage workers is
significantly greater at Yorco than it is at Zortech
D. overtime work, which is paid at a substantially higher rate than work done
during the regular work week, is rare at both Yorco and Zortech
E. the highest hourly wages paid at Yorco are higher than the highest hourly
wages paid at Zortech
[spoiler]Answer:C/D[/spoiler]

IMO : C
Why D should not be accounted here,
1. It is bringing extra information to the passage - overtime work
2. Even if we consider overtime work to be OK. It does not give any clue as to why the annual labor paid by Yorco and Zortec differs. It simply says that overtime-work wages are higher than normal and that overtime work is rare in both the companies. This does not specify that overtime work is more at Yorco to come to the conclusion.

I'm a little confused on the reasoning, can you explain why C ? ....

maihuna wrote:Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
Yorco and Zortech are two corporations that employ large numbers of full-time
workers who are paid by the hour. Publicly available records indicate that Yorco
employs roughly the same number of such hourly wage workers as Zortech does but
spends a far higher total sum per year on wages for such workers. Therefore, hourly
wages must be higher, on average, at Yorco than at Zortech, since _____.
A. Zortech spends a higher total sum per year than Yorco does to provide its
hourly wage workers with benefits other than wages
B. the work performed by hourly wage workers at Zortech does not require a
significantly higher level of skill than the work performed by hourly wage
workers at Yorco does
C. the proportion of all company employees who are hourly wage workers is
significantly greater at Yorco than it is at Zortech
D. overtime work, which is paid at a substantially higher rate than work done
during the regular work week, is rare at both Yorco and Zortech
E. the highest hourly wages paid at Yorco are higher than the highest hourly
wages paid at Zortech
[spoiler]Answer:C/D[/spoiler]

I am wrong above. Upon reading the argument 2-3 times. I just realized that the correct answer has to be D and not C.

The argument concludes that hourly wages must be higher, on average, at Yorco than at Zortech.
Lets put the math,
Amount spent =(Avg Hourly wage) * (Total No of employee) *(total number of hours each worked)

From the Q stem,
1. we know that Total No of employee is SAME for both.
2. There is no information on total number of hours worked by employees ( we can look for this info in the passage but its not present though).
3. we are left with Avg Hourly wage and that should be higher for Yorco.

C is irrelevant as 'other kinds of worker'( contributing to the proportion) apart from hourly wage are out of picture here. We have no information about the money earned by those kinds of workers.

D is important since it brings a new fact to light i.e. overtime-wage to stress on the point that indeed, Avg Hourly wage paid at Yorco is higher. Had it been the case that overtime-work done at Yorko is more compared to Zortec that would have explained the reason why Yorco pays more annually. But, if we fill this gap to say that Y and Z have the same no of overtime-work then we will be left with only one reason to believe that Avg Hourly wage is higher at Yorco.

E. Eliminated - we are concerned with the AVG and not MAX. May be lowest hourly wage paid at Y is less than Z. So, we have to take an AVG to calculate the total expense.

That was a good explanation gmatmachoman.

I chose C, D as i thought was out of scope.

Thanks again, hope to learn from it.